Blogging about crankiness instead of writing my casenote

(Half of which is due at midnight tonight. I'm doing terribly with writing things expeditiously this semester.)

Anyway, I'm cranky partly because of said casenote, because I don't feel like I've had a break from law school assignments hanging over my head in WEEKS. (My own fault, but still, crankiness-inducing.)

And partly because of the annoying people at the local Whole Paycheck Foods, who are so very very entitled, all the more so because they are wealthy but enlightened--they buy organic! they voted for Obama! they're deeply concerned about their carbon footprints! Which are all admirable things, don't get me wrong, but I wish they'd be a little bit more concerned about their shopping footprints, and not park their carts in the middle of the aisle, completely blocking everyone's path, and maybe move more than a centimeter when someone says "Excuse me" to them. (This one woman did this to me TWICE today. I, of course, was there by myself, with hair in a ball cap, wearing a cheap sweatshirt and jeans, while SHE was there with her precious teenage daughters, all wearing expensive faux-workout gear and expensive haircuts. So I guess I was simply supposed to accommodate myself to her importance.)

And partly because something in my kitchen STINKS, and I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is. It might be the disposal, because we haven't been cooking much lately, so it doesn't get run very often, and the little dribs and drabs of stuff sit and get icky. (Anyone have any brilliant ideas for deodorizing a garbage disposal?) There were some suspicious marks on the floor (which is fairly dark, so stains don't show up easily, lest you despair of my housekeeping), but I've mopped it and the smell doesn't seem to have gone away. Hell, I'm burning vanilla-mint fragrance in an oil burner, and I can still smell whatever it is. I cleaned the cat box, so it can't be that. But I am a little worried, because Middle Cat occasionally has litter box malfunctions and we'll find a little turd sitting in the middle of the floor somewhere. I can't FIND one anywhere, but I kind of worry she may have turfed one under the stove or something... isn't this a charming piece of information??

So, anyway, given that my choices for the moment are writing my casenote or scouring my apartment from top to bottom for the source of the stink, crankiness seems in order.

Comments

[Seeking Solace]

Crank away! I hate when people do that stuff in the grocery store. And, I also hate those carts that are shaped like cars for people with kids. They take up the ENTIRE aisle!

[undine]

Baking soda followed by boiling water for the disposal.

[Dame Eleanor Hull]

And after the baking soda, grind up orange peels, and it will smell nice. But as a fellow servant-of-cats, I might be looking for the, uh, greater than usual opportunities to serve (if you follow me).

[Dr. Moonbeam]

I like baking soda followed by white vinegar, which also helps flush out the pipes. And grinding up any citrus peels (lemon or grapefruit as well as orange that is; limes never seem to grind well for me) usually sweetens things.

[Belle]

Plumber also suggested stuffing some ice cubes into it and whirring away. Lots of noise, so you can scream/shout at the same time. The shards of ice act like scrubbers (per plumber).

Crankiness: chocolate

[New Kid on the Hallway]

Thank you, everyone! My disposal is now sparkling... and the kitchen was still stinking.

BUT! I FOUND THE SOURCE!!! (and there was much rejoicing.)

We have a hook under the counter where we hang all the plastic bags we get from Target and wherever, which we then use for garbage/whatever bags. Sometimes while we're cooking/cleaning the kitchen we'll toss stuff in one rather than use the trash can (in a cupboard), and then throw it away when we're done. Well, one of us did this...but didn't throw the bag away. And there were only a couple of (by now, really really REALLY disgusting) things in it, so it just blended in with the rest of the (empty) bags. Ew! Ew! Ew! (I'm sure you're even more dubious about our housekeeping now... but at least it got me to clean the kitchen floor!)

[profgrrrrl]

glad you found the source. But I'm curious -- how can half of something be due? What is half of a case?

[New Kid on the Hallway]

Good question! I'm writing a casenote, which is all the brilliant insights I can borrow from a kindly prof come up about a specific case, and we're supposed to turn in half, really just to show we've done enough work on it this semester to earn our academic credit (the absolute final version isn't due till the end of spring; mostly they don't want us slacking and then trying to write the whole thing in a month). Prior to this we turned in a "detailed outline" of the whole, the final thing is supposed to be ~30 pp, so we're supposed to turn in 15 pp of something. I guess some people will be following their outlines and writing up half of it, but since I don't remotely work in that kind of linear fashion (I never outline until I've written out all the things I think I want to say about something), what I'll be turning in probably won't resemble my outline at all!

[maude lebowski]

i know you did not intend this probably, but your post had me in stitches!

[profgrrrrl]

Ah, thanks. Makes more sense now.

[New Kid on the Hallway]

maude - am glad that my crankiness served some purpose! ;-)

profgrrrrl - it's kind of amazing how incomprehensible law is sometimes. (or maybe just me describing it!)